This reproduction is a new, individually printed and proofed, superior quality, giclee* process, fine art print. It is printed on 100% cotton rag acid-free, heavyweight fine art paper with a luxurious textured watercolor paper finish and archival pigment inks to ensure permanence.

Created for collectors, it IS NOT A POSTER or mass produced print on low quality, inexpensive paper.


Image Size: 15 x 10.5 inches printed on 18 x 13 inch paper to allow ample room for matting and framing

John James Audubon Reproductions - Watercolor Studies for Birds of America

American White Pelican, 1829
Fine Art Reproduction
Image Size: 15 x 10.5 inches

John James Audubon’s masterwork, The Birds of America, was originally released between 1827 and 1835. The work consisted 435 of hand-colored, life-size prints, made from engraved plates of his watercolors. The watercolors of American birds that John Audubon painted in the opening decades of the 19th century were never intended to be finished works of art in their own right. Rather they were the preparatory studies with the final goal of producing and publishing prints from engravings based on the watercolors.

Often painted 'on the spot' in the field, Audubon's watercolors depicted for the first time all known species of North American birds in their natural habitat. The images were then transferred to copperplates utilized by Robert Havell, his London engraver for the monumental series of prints Birds of America.

The vast majority of the original watercolors are still in existence today. Audubon's widow, Lucy Bakewell Audubon, sold them in 1863 to the New-York Historical Society. Over 400 etchings in the completed Birds of America were produced from his 433 original watercolors.

In 1820 (around the age of 35) Audubon declared his intention to paint every bird in North America. In his bird art, he mainly abandoned oil paint, the medium of serious artists of the day, in favor of watercolors and pastel crayons (and occasionally pencil, charcoal, chalk, gouache, and pen and ink). As early as 1807 he developed a method of using wires and threads to hold dead birds in life-like poses while he drew them.

In 1823 Audubon went to Philadelphia and New York looking for financial support in the form of subscribers to enable him to publish his artwork, but found support lacking. As a result, in 1826 he set sail for the United Kingdom with 250 of his original illustrations, looking for the financial support of subscribers and the technical abilities of engravers and printers. After exhibiting his drawings in Liverpool and Manchester he journeyed to Edinburgh, where he met the accomplished engraver William H. Lizars. Lizars engraved up to ten of the first plates and in 1827 Audubon engaged the noted London animal engraver Robert Havell Jr. and his father (Robert) who saw the project through to its completion in 1838.

Original Medium: Watercolors, pastel, black ink, gouache and graphite with glazes on paper. Reproduction Medium: Fine Art Paper, Archival Pigment Inks
Image Size: 15 x 10.5 inches (printed on larger 18 x 13 inch paper to allow ample borders for matting and framing)

NOTE: The Da Vinci Art Prints watermark on this image is for computer viewing only and of course NOT on the actual print.

PayPal only please. Prints ship in a heavy protective cardboard tube.

**the giclee process produces a high quality, fine art reproduction from a high-resolution digital file of an image. The file is then printed with a high-resolution photo generation printer on a fine art paper. Most artists and working photographers today use the giclee process to produce reproductions of their original artwork and photographs.

As with any original art or fine art reproduction, it is recommended that prints are framed and displayed under glass to prevent color fade or shift over the years.